Parking assist apparatus and method

1. A parking assisting apparatus for assisting parking of a vehicle moving in a forward direction, comprising:

obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle near the vehicle moving in the forward direction;

parking space detecting means for detecting a parking space based on detected results of the obstacle detecting means;

deflection angle calculating means for calculating a deflection angle α that represents a change amount of a direction of the vehicle in a predetermined travel distance before a current position of the vehicle, the deflection angle α being calculated based on an output from each of a steering angle sensor and a vehicle speed sensor; and

information outputting means for outputting an initial notice that informs a driver that the parking space exists adjacent to the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting means,

wherein the information outputting means determines whether to output the initial notice based on the deflection angle α calculated by the deflection angle calculating means, and

wherein the initial notice is output if

the parking space adjacent to the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting means is detected by the parking space detecting means, and

if an absolute value of the deflection angle α calculated by the deflection angle calculating means is within a predetermined range of 0<|α|<θ1, where θ1 is a predetermined value.

2. The parking assisting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, when the information outputting means outputs the notice, the information outputting means outputs a steering instruction, and

wherein, when the vehicle has reached an appropriate parking start position from which the vehicle can be parked in a noticed parking space, the information outputting means informs the driver of reaching the appropriate parking start position.

3. The parking assisting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an operation of the information outputting means can be switched on or off according to an operation of a user.

4. The parking assisting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein a detection result of the obstacle detecting means or a detection result of the parking space derived therefrom is stored even if the operation of the information outputting means is switched off.

5. The parking assisting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the information outputting means outputs an image representing a position of the parking space on a display screen, said image being updated when a new parking space is detected.

6. A parking assisting method of assisting parking of a vehicle moving in a forward direction, comprising:

detecting an obstacle near the vehicle moving in the forward direction;

detecting a parking space based on results of the detected obstacle;

calculating a deflection angle that represents a change amount of a direction of the vehicle in a predetermined travel distance before a current position of the vehicle, the deflection angle being calculated based on an output from each of a steering angle sensor and a vehicle speed sensor; and

outputting an initial notice that informs a driver that the parking space exists adjacent to the obstacle detected during the step of detecting an obstacle,

wherein prior to the step of outputting the initial notice it is determined whether the initial notice should be output based on the deflection angle calculated during the step of calculating a deflection angle, and

wherein the initial notice is output if

the parking space adjacent to the detected obstacle is detected during the step of detecting a parking space, and

if an absolute value of the deflection angle α calculated during the deflection angle calculating step is within a predetermined range of 0<|α|<θ1, where θ1 is a predetermined value.

7. A parking assisting apparatus for assisting parking of a vehicle moving in a forward direction, comprising:

a control device that is connected to an obstacle detecting sensor that detects an obstacle near the vehicle moving in the forward direction, said control device being configured to detect a parking space based on the detected obstacle and being configured to calculate a deflection angle that represents a change amount of a direction of the vehicle in a predetermined travel distance before a current position of the vehicle and to output an initial notice that informs a driver that a parking space exists adjacent to the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting sensor,

wherein said control device is further configured to determine whether to output the initial notice based on a calculated deflection angle, the deflection angle being calculated based on an output from each of a steering angle sensor and a vehicle speed sensor, and

wherein the initial notice is output if

the parking space adjacent to the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting sensor is detected during parking space detecting, and

if an absolute value of the deflection angle α calculated during the deflection angle calculating is within a predetermined range of 0<|α|<θ1, where θ1 is a predetermined value.

8. The parking assist apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the information outputting means does not inform the driver that the parking space exists when the deflection angle is greater than θ1.

9. The parking assist apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the parking space detecting means and the deflection angle calculating means are included in an electronic control unit (ECU) disposed in the vehicle, and

wherein the ECU receives data input from the obstacle detecting means, the steering angle sensor, and the vehicle speed sensor.